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The first International Telenet Blog Meet in Brussels was a huge success, given that 100% of the people who inscribed turned up. There were Belgians (of course), a serious British delegation, a number of Italians and even a Portuguese participant. We had a lot of fun and even got to discussing the more serious topics of the day, including an analysis of the Belgian and Flemish blogosphere and an interesting lecture about the dangers of blogging.

I don’t remember when I first saw the film ‘Jaws’, I do remember that at a certain moment I started to wonder if I would be eaten alive every time I entered an open body of water. Never mind that white sharks rarely attack in duck ponds and canals deep in the interior of the Belgian countryside. The North Sea shores are not really known for shark attacks either, being both cold and very polluted (what were we doing in that water anyway).

I named this dish the ‘Mediterranean lamb stew’ because of the typically southern ingredients such as tomatoes, paprika, lamb’s meat, garlic, etc. although it was developed and tested in Belgium – which is not a Mediterranean country – by myself. No Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italians, Slovenes, Croats, Bosnians, Montenegrins, Albanians, Greeks, Turks, Syrians, Lebanese, Israelis, Palestinians, Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans, Cypriotes or Maltese were harmed during the making and testing of this dish.

My grandfather was known for his sudden, violent outbursts. The object of his frustration would mainly be inanimate, but this didn’t prevent him from claiming that “it was all made just to annoy him”. Man, he could shout! Likewise, as children we knew better than to hang around dad when he was practising DIY. Whenever things went wrong, he would curse the plaster of the walls. Generally, this was followed by “Bart, come here and hold the bloody thing for me”. On which I would enter knees trembling and slipping a way as silently and as fast as I could afterwards.

Yesterday, I became Uncle Bart. Well, not officially, since it’s my girlfriends’ side of the family and we’re not married yet. I’m more of an aspirant-uncle. In the evening, we went to the hospital to get a glimpse of the newborn, and I can tell you she’s a beauty. Her name is Pippa: apparently she’s named after a character in the parent’s favourite soap series. But let’s not get into that.

Yesterday I was strolling through Brussels, killing some time and the occasional toddler running under my feet before meeting some friends for diner. By chance I stumbled upon Sterling Books, an English bookshop in the centre of the city. They had lots of books – obviously – and more to the point a quite impressive collection of recent and not-so-recent science-fiction novels. So what, you say (I know that up to know no-one has found my weblog yet, so technically, I’m speaking to myself here, which is a bit worrying).

In the race for the world’s highest structure, we present you the Cat’s Towers. The Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the Sears Towers in the US and other mega-structures currently under construction all stand in the shadow of this giant. I put it together myself and it stands in our (temporary) living room since last Saturday. It has 1000 parking spaces underground, a business lounge on the first floor (that’s the second floor to Americans), luxurious apartments on the second floor, a fitness room in the middle of the building, and a promenade deck on top with an excellent view on the city.

At my first job, we had a little tradition by eating fries for lunch every Thursday. This was greatly stimulated by the fact that one of the best fry shops in Antwerp was around the corner. For those of you who have no clue about what I’m talking: fries are for Belgians what cheese and wine is for the French and Woursheshtershouresoursauce is for the English.

So I finally bought myself a digital camera a couple of weeks ago. Mind you, not just your average 13-in-a-dozen-quickly-take-a-snapshot-of-the-children-playing camera. Noooo, I desperately needed a digital SLR 8 megapixel beast of a camera, the same way men generally need a sound system normally used by the Rolling Stones on one of their larger tours, or an all-terrain vehicle capable of crossing the Sahara desert to do the groceries. And man, do I feel all-powerful now with my new Canon EOS-350D in my hands. Nothing is safe for me now.

After a month and a half at my new job, I really master the commuting thing. My daily trip between Antwerp and Brussels takes about an hour and a half each direction, in the company of several thousands of other people who press themselves on the same tram, train and subway car as I do. I now am capable of finding my way around practically blindfolded, which is just as well because you can’t expect a lot of mental activity at 7 a.m. from this commuter.

Monthly archive

Blogs I like

Alcyon's Nest is a nice blog about a nice family in Flanders that I keep visiting. (Dutch language)

Askatasuna is about Goya's travels around the world to play in the mud. (Dutch language)

Remember the two old Muppets, Statler and Waldorf, who made very sarcastic remarks about anyone or anything they came across? Well, there was a third one named Keith, living near Smithy Lane (who constantly changes the address of his site): At Home with Keith.

BVLG keeps his finger on the pulse of Belgian and international web and ICT trends (Dutch language).

Charlie's tribe is a bunch of social misfits from different countries. Because every single one of them is too clumsy with a Kalashnikov to start a terrorist cell, they just huddle together in Brussels and blog about life in the big city.

Chocs Away, Old Girl is the place to visit to get a peek into the deep cleavage of the high-brow beau-monde of Brussels. Includes strong language, restaurant reviews and detailed analysis of Eastenders episodes.